Means for uniting sheet-metal parts.



BEST AVAlLABLE COP;

PATBNTEDEMAY 2, 1905.

B. M. STEELE. MEANS FOR UNITING SHEET METAL PARTS.

APPLICATION FILED D30. 1, 1904.

ZZZ/Zin can , seer AVAILABLE Patented May 2, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN M. STEELE, OF PEORIA. ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO BEN STEELE WEIGHER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS, A (JOB- PORATION OF ILLINOIS.

MEANS FOR UNITING SHEET-METAL PARTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 789.107, dated May 2, 1905.

Application filed December 1, 1904. Serial No. 235,013.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN M. STEELE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Uniting Sheet- Metal Parts; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention has reference to a new and improved means for uniting sheet-metal parts.

I 5 The object which I have in View is to unite the sheet-metal tubes of automatic weighing devices, conveyers, and similar machines to head or end sections in a detachable manner, the head of the bolt employed for uniting the parts, to ether with the contiguous parts of the meta around the head of the bolt, being drawn outwardly to make a smooth inner presented face of the said metal where the bolt unites the parts.

The method employed herein for uniting sheet-metal parts consists in forming a depressed portion or countersunk boss in one of the parts, carrying a bolt through contiguous sheet-metal parts and through the boss afore-' 0 said, and securing a nut to the end of the boltfor drawing the head of the bolt and sheetmetal parts contiguous to the boss into the same.

The invention consists in the various features of improvement hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out by the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings, Figure l-is a reduced view 40 showing in side elevation the tubes of an elevator and a head or end section of one or more parts secured to the tubes by my improved method of uniting sheet-metal parts. Fig.2 is an enlarged sectional view showing the manner of uniting the overlapping parts of the head or end sections to the tube. Fig. 3 is a sectional view, greatly enlarged, showing the first step in the operation of the manner of fastening the sheet-metal sections together. Fi 4 is a sectional view, greatly enlarged, 0 arts similar to those shown in Fig. 3 after t e parts have been securely'fas-' tened together; and Fig. 5 is an outside face 1%" view of Fig. 4.

arts of manufacture has necessitated their bein joined not'only in a detachable m'an- Q ner, ut that the surface of the metal where 1 the head engages thesame shall be smooth; Its use, asm the present invention, Where the head or end sections of an automatic weigher are of sheet metal,- as also the tubes, requires that in joining them the inne1 p1'e i sented face of the tubes; as Well as the over v lapping sections of the h ad, must be smooth and void of all obstructions or extensions, whereby a conveyer having fflights passing through the same the flights will not be inteffered with in their passage throitfhthe tubes and head or end sections. 3. is

In Fig. 1 of the drawings I show. the head end of an elevator used in automatic Weighing-machines, the head orend sections con.- sisting of half-sections 1, somewhat aftelikthe design disclosed, which are adaptedt joined together, havin overlapping edges2, the head being provi ed with the s out 3, out of which grain is discharged, Whic .ele- I 1 vated in the tube 4 by an elevator having flights, (not shown,) which passes over the, shaft 5 and down throu h the tube 4, the tubes being joined to the ead in the depend-- ing tubular portions 6. Where the head and end of the tubes are joined I employ my im-. proved joining means, also where the overlapping sections of the head-sections are contiguous. 1

The tubes 4 and 4 and the head-sections where they are joined to each other have each coinciding perforations 7, which may be previously punched or made at the time of connecting the parts.

One of the sections, preferably the outside section of the head, is provided at suitable The use of sheet-metal parts in the 5; if

places with the outwardly-extended defrom the inner side of the said sections.

pressed or'countersunk bosses 8, preferably tapered in the manner shown in the figures and having the outer engaging portion 9, in which the perforation 7 is made. It is preferable in this structure to make the perforation 7 in the depressed portions of the sections when the said depressed portions are pressed or otherwise suitably formed therein.

In Fig. 2 is shown approximately half a section of one of the tubes and the two half sections of a head to which the tube is connected. In one of the sections of the head, preferably the outer or overlapping section, the same is provided with the boss or depressed portion described, the same being also provided with a corrugated portion 10 to overlap the edge of the contiguous section of the head provided for fitting the sections snugly to the tube, all of which, it is believed, will be understood.

'11 denotes a bolt such as I refer to use, having preferably a tapered or eveled head 12, and 13 is a nut adapted to be screwed onto the end of the said bolt.

In the operation of connecting the overlapping sections of the head or of connecting the tube to the head-section the sections are laced so as to bring their perforations 7 coincident, through which a bolt 11 is passed By placing the nut on the end of the bolt and screwing up the same it causes the head of the bolt to be drawn into the depressed or countersunk boss of he outside section and in so doing presses the section or sections of metal into such zountersunk boss until the face of the head of the bolt is flush with the inner face of the innermost section of sheet metal, subs 'intially as seen in Figs. 2 and 4.

portions of the head void of all projections unless some such means as I show be employed By the joining means shown for sheetmetal parts it will be readily seen that they may be very easily detached and reassembled if for any cause the parts are pressed or bent out of shape or if it is desired to take them apart for any other cause, being very desirable where a machine is at work in the field.

Attention is here called to a patent issued to me on May 10, 1904, covering means for uniting sheet metal parts, wherein a Washer is used which is countersunk and into which the parts of the metal are drawn.

However, it is to cheapen the cost of uniting the parts and simplifying the construction that I have introduced the within method, which consists in depressing or forming the countersunk boss and drawing the sheetmetal parts which are contiguous into the same.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

The herein-described means for joining sections of sheet metal, consisting of a countersunk boss formed on one section, a bolt passed through the contiguous sections of metal and boss, and a nut for drawing the head of the bolt and metal surrounding the same into the countersunk boss aforesaid.

2, In combination, the sections of sheetmetal tube and head-sections, a countersunk boss formed on the headsection, a bolt passed through the metal of the tube and boss from the inner side, and a nut for drawing the head of the boit and section of tube into the said boss, with the nut ngaging'the outer face of said boss.

3. In combination, a sheet-metal tube, a sheet-metal head-section having overlapping portions, means for detachably connecting the overlapping parts of the head together and the said overlapping portions to the tube,

comprising a boss formed in the outside overlappin section-of the head, a bolt passing throug the tube, the inner section of. the

head and boss of the overlap ingsection of I said head, and a nut for drawmg the head of the bolt and metal of the tube and inner section of the head into the boss of the overlapping section aforesaid.

4. The combination of a sheet-metal section formed with'a series of extended hollowed-out portions provided with an opening, one or more sections of sheet metal placed in juxtaposition to the first-named section and to each other and provided with openings coincident with the openings in the said first mentioned section, and means for uniting the parts where the openings are coincident by drawin the two last-mentioned sections into the ho lowed-out portions aforesaid, substantially as specified.

5. The combination of the head of an elevator made in two sections having overlapping portions, the outer section having a series of outwardly depressed portions with tapered walls and a perforation, a tube extending into the head aforesaid, said tube and inner sectionof the head having perforations coinciding with the perforations of the depressed portions aforesaid, bolts having tapered heads adapted to be passed through the perforations in the tube and sections of the head, and means for drawing the head of the bolt together with the portions of the tube and inner section of the head surrounding the same into the depressed portion of the outer overlapping section of the head to leave a sniooth'inner face of the tube, substantially as specified.

6. The combination of a sheet-rneta1 section having a tapered boss provided with a centrally-disposed perforation in the outer wall of said boss, a sheet metal section in juxtaposition to the inner face of said first section, a bolt passed from the inner side through the perforation in the inner section and the perforations in the boss of the outer section, and a nut adapted to be screwed onto the end of the bolt and bearing against the outer face of the boss for the urpose of drawing the head of the bolt and metal of the inner section around the same into the boss, the head of said bolt conforming substantially to the taper of the wall of said boss, substantially as specified.

7. Means for joining two or more sections of sheet metal, consisting of a countersunk boss formed on one section, a tapered depression conforming to the countersunk boss formed on the contiguous sections, a bolt adapted to be passed through the tapered depression and the boss of the contiguous sections, and a nut for securing the bolt with the head thereof drawn into the depression and said countersunk boss, substantially for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses.

BENJAMIN M. STEELE.

Witnesses:

ROBERT N. McCoRMIoK, H. V. GIBSON. 

